The present invention relates to a mechanism for assisting in bill split payment.
Recent years have seen widespread use of cards or electronic money to pay for various goods and services. For example, in the case where people eat together, they may want to pay for the meal by splitting the bill (bill split payment). However, it is not easy to make bill split payment by cards or electronic money.
Various bill split payment methods are conventionally proposed.
A first method discloses the following technique. In the case of splitting (individual split or simple split) payment of a total amount for items traded in one transaction with a group of a plurality of customers in an ECR for processing customer transaction-related data in settlement of various bills, when each payer designates a payment method (cash, credit card, debit card, prepaid card, etc.), the payment of the split amount for each payer is settled according to the designated payment method of the payer.
A second method discloses the following technique. A provider is paid by a card of a representative. After this, information for executing bill split payment is presented to each bill split payer from a server of a settlement agency including a credit card company via a network.
A third method and fourth method disclose the following techniques. When a sale is made through the use of a credit card, sale information including use amount information that indicates the use amount corresponding to the use is stored. In the case where a credit card system accepts a request for bill split payment for already made sales, the credit card system searches stored sale information for sale information relating to the accepted request, splits the use amount indicated by the use amount information included in the searched-for sale information, and, based on the split result, updates the searched-for sale information which is split-source sale information and also stores split-result sale information.
A fifth method discloses the following technique. In the case of making bill split payment, a payment amount per person is calculated and transmitted to each member terminal device, and settlement data corresponding to the payment amount is acquired from each member terminal device.
A sixth method discloses the following technique. A calculation unit of a mobile terminal of a representative who paid a total bill to a store as a representative of a group calculates a payment amount to be paid by each person of the group, and transmits accounting data including the calculated payment amount of each person to a mobile terminal of the person. As a result, the mobile terminal of each person transmits electronic money data corresponding to the payment amount of the person to the mobile terminal of the representative, and the mobile terminal of the representative receives the electronic money data. The bill split payment by each person of the group is settled in this way.
Thus, methods of making bill split payment by cards or electronic money are conventionally available.
However, in the first method, the designation of the payment method and the settlement of the split bill according to the payment method are performed for each payer in the ECR, which requires a complex procedure in front of the ECR in a restaurant or the like.
In the second and fourth methods, in bill split payment, the representative (split requester) and the bill split payer (split approver) each pay by a credit card. Accordingly, no complex procedure is required in front of the ECR in a restaurant or the like. However, after the representative (split requester) requests the bill split payer (split approver) to pay the split amount, the bill split payer (split approver) makes the payment to the credit card company. This obscures who is responsible for the payment.
In the fifth and sixth methods, in bill split payment, the representative terminal receives information for payment settlement from each member terminal and transmits the information to a POS terminal. This clarifies who is responsible for the payment, but there is a risk of the contents of the information for payment settlement being known to the representative.